§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement about the outcome of the latest valuation of the teachers' pension scheme. [117306]
§ Mr. WicksI have today laid formally before both Houses; the Report and Supplementary Report of the Government Actuary on the Teachers' Pension Scheme 205W for the period 1991–96. As a result of the Supplementary Report, the rate of contribution payable by employers will be increased by 0.95 per cent. from 1 April 2002.
In the Government Actuary's initial report on the valuation of the scheme he recommended that the employer contribution rate should be increased from April 2000 to remove the balance of liability over the next 40 years as required under the pension regulations. The Government Actuary was subsequently asked to advise on the consequences of an alternative approach, which would enable the increase in the employer contribution rate to come into effect in 2002, but with the deficit still being removed within 40 years from 2000. We have decided to adopt the alternative approach with the result that some £90 million will be available in each of the next two years for the direct benefit of schools. Teachers can be assured that this approach does not in any way affect the security of the Teachers' Pension Scheme or the level of benefits payable to its members.